Page:An Essay on Criticism - Pope (1711).pdf/39

No Pardon vile Obscenity should find,
Tho' Wit and Art conspire to move your Mind;
But Dulness with Obscenity must prove
As Shameful sure as Impotence in Love.
In the fat Age of Pleasure, Wealth, and Ease,
Sprung the rank Weed, and thriv'd with large Increase;
When Love was all an easie Monarch's Care;
Seldom at Council, never in a War:
Jilts rul'd the State, and Statesmen Farces writ;
Nay Wits had Pensions, and young Lords had Wit:
The Fair sate panting at a Courtier's Play,
And not a Mask went un-improv'd away:
The modest Fan was lifted up no more,
And Virgins smil'd at what they blush'd before——
The following Licence of a Foreign Reign
Did all the Dregs of bold Socinus drain;
Then first the Belgian Morals were extoll'd;
We their Religion had, and they our Gold:
Then Unbelieving Priests reform'd the Nation,
And taught more Pleasant Methods of Salvation;

Where